The police in Akwa Ibom have arraigned the suspended principal of the Deeper Life High School Uyo, Ndidi Solomon and six others for their roles in the alleged sexual abuse and maltreatment of Don-Davis Archibong, an 11-year-old-student of the school.

Arraigned along with Solomon at the Magistrate Court Uyo were Mrs. Ndidi SoJoseph Nseabasi, Akpan Johnson, Egor Wilson, Joseph Ikenna, and two minors, Shalom Ibukun and Ola Feyisetan.

They were taken to court on a Four-count charge bordering on conspiracy to Felony to wit: indecent treatment of boys under fourteen and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 556 of the criminal code, cap.38, Vol.2. Laws of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, 2000.

The two minors, Shalom Ibukun and Ola Feyisetan were charged for committing act of gross indecency by inserting their fingers into the anus of Don-Davies.

The minors’ offence is punishable under section 218(1) of the Criminal code, cap.38, vol.2 Laws of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, 2000.

Both were also charged for unlawfully and indecently assaulting Don-Davies Archibong, which is an offence punishable under section 362(1) of the Laws of Akwa Ibom State.

Also, Joseph Nseabasi, Akpan Johnson, Egor Wilson, and Joseph Ikenna were charged for failure to prevent Shallom Ibukun and Ola Feyisetan from committing felony, thereby committed an offence punishable under section 551 of the criminal code, cap.38 vol.11. Laws of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, 2000.

When the case was read, all the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the Four-count charge.

The Court granted all the accused persons bail in the sum of N500, 000 (five hundred thousand naira) each, while the two minors among them were released to their parents.

Their bail followed application filed by their Counsel Fidelis Igwe, on the ground that it is bailable offence.

The case was adjourned to January 20, ,2021 for accelerated hearing.

Addressing newsmen at the premises, Counsel to the petitioner, David Okokon (Esq) says he is committed to ensuring that justice is served in the matter.

However, Counsel to the accused persons declined to comment on the case.

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) is taking measures to safeguard against COVID-19 spread.

The management has, therefore, ordered that its Staff Club should be closed immediately.

Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the Vice Chancellor, gave the directive.

“The directive is necessitated to curb the spread of COVID-19 as a result of a second wave of the pandemic”, the information read.

Ogundipe told The Nation that the closure was in compliance with the Lagos State Government’s instruction.

“It’s just to obey the directive from the government about the closure of club houses,” he said.

UNILAG is in a mourning mood after losing two Professors.

Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, a former VC, and Duro Ajeyalemi, ex-Registrar, Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board, died within three days.

It is authored by Akinwumi Ogundiran.

The book, is the first transdisciplinary study of the two-thousand-year journey of the Yoruba people, from their origins in a small corner of the Niger-Benue Confluence in present-day Nigeria to becoming one of the most populous cultural groups on the African continent.

The author, Akinwumi Ogundiran is Chancellor’s Professor and Professor of Africana Studies,
Anthropology & History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

He is co-editor of Materialities of Rituals in the Black Atlantic, named a Choice magazine 2015
outstanding book.

Weaving together archaeology with linguistics, environmental science with oral traditions, and material culture with mythology, Ogundiran in his new book examines the local, regional, and even global dimensions of Yoruba history.

The Yoruba: A New History offers an intriguing cultural, political, economic, intellectual, and social history from ca. 300 BC to 1840. It accounts for the events, peoples, and practices, as well as the theories of knowledge, ways of being, and social valuations that shaped the Yoruba experience at different junctures of time. The result is a new framework for understanding the Yoruba past and present.

The following personalities have these to say about the new work:

“In this brilliantly conceived and successfully executed project, Akinwumi
Ogundiran deploys a cultural-historical approach to pose new questions on how
the Yoruba as historical subject created their own epistemology, new eras of
aspirational values and principle, and conceptions of honor and respectability.”
— Saheed Aderinto, author of Guns and Society in Colonial Nigeria
On his part,
“An exquisitely detailed and evocative portrait of the Yorùbá “community
of practice” that will change the ways we think about Yorùbá history and
culture and become a seminal source for present and future scholars.”
—Henry John Drewal, Evjue-Bascom Professor Emeritus of African
and African Diaspora Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“This book will command the attention and respect of scholars, students,
researchers, and the general reader in the fields of history, archaeology,
anthropology, sociology, and culture for a long time. It is an excellent
addition to the literature and reference works on African Studies.”
—Olutayo C. Adesina, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
The Yorùbá: A New History is the first transdisciplinary study of the two-thousand-year
journey of the Yorùbá people, from their origins in a small corner of the Niger-Benue
Confluence in present-day Nigeria to becoming one of the most populous cultural groups
on the African continent.

ORDER VIA https://iupress.org/9780253051493/the-yoruba/